Early Years

There is increasing recognition of the importance of the Early Years and of services which provide early intervention to address vulnerability and prevent potential exclusion.

NEW - Early learning and childcare

Local conversations are being held throughout March to give practitioners an opportunity to talk with colleagues and with Education Scotland about early learning and childcare. The March conversations are on the subject of ‘My Professional Learning’. More HERE

Social Justice Begins with Babies

The annual report of the Putting the Baby IN the Bath Water coalition continues to emphasise that we need to dramatically increase investment in, and improve action during, the first 1,001 days of life (from pre-birth to pre-school). Download the pdf HERE

Enable Scotland Family Support Project

This Perth and Kinross project supports parents who have a learning disability and people who have a learning disability who are expecting a child. More HERE

Childcare and poverty

Many people who are in work live in relative poverty due to low wages and high costs of living. The ‘Working at the Edge’ series examines the problems that these households face due to in-work poverty – this edition focuses on childcare. Download the pdf HERE

Setting the table: Nutritional guidance and food standards for early years childcare providers

This guidance highlights the importance of nutrition in the early years and the role that childcare providers have in shaping both current and future eating patterns in young children in Scotland. More HERE

An unfair sentence: All Babies Count

Pregnancy and the first years of a baby’s life are an important time in giving a child a healthy and safe start in life. Meeting the needs of baby and mother are more complex when the mother is in prison. More HERE

Early Years Collaborative Learning Session 6

Supporting Early Learning through Children’s Rights and Wellbeing

23rd February 2015 Edinburgh
An event for Early Years practitioners about children's rights, positive relationships, behaviour and wellbeing. More HERE

Early Years Taskforce Workstream Champions

Champions are visiting Community Planning Partnerships to find out how local projects are using improvement methodology to transform services. Chief Executive of Education Scotland Bill Maxwell recently visited Dundee CPP Download pdf HERE

Building the Ambition

The guidance supports practitioners to focus on the important aspects of developmental stages and what children need at different times from their early years learning experiences, adult interaction and the early learning and childcare environment. Download pdf HERE

Guidance on early learning and childcare

The Scottish Government has issued guidance in relation to provisions of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and early learning and childcare. More HERE

Independent review of childcare workforce

Professor Iram Siraj chairs the independent review of early learning and childcare and out of school care. Views must be submitted by September 30th. More HERE

The Early Years Collaborative

EYC is a coalition of early years professionals committed to ensuring that every baby, child, mother, father and family in Scotland has access to the best supports available. It's the world's first national multi-agency quality improvement programme. More HERE

EYC Learning sessions

These are an opportunity for practitioners from a range of settings to get together to listen, to share, to observe and to gather knowledge to take back to the workplace. The most recent Learning Session (5) focused on using improvement methodology to test and measure developments in the early years key changes. More HERE

PINS Practice Profile

Hazel Whitters, senior pre-5 worker at the Jeely Piece Club nursery, talks about working holistically with children and their families.
Download Portable Document Format (PDF) HERE

Supporting Learning in the Early Years

Education Scotland has funded and now reports on a number fo projects aimed at identifying, capturing and sharing interesting and effective practice in assessment in a range of pre-school centres. More HERE

Early Years Matters

The latest edition of Education Scotland’s Early Years Matters. More HERE

Pre-birth to three: positive outcomes for Scotland’s children and families

This is the national guidance for all Early Years staff in Scotland. As well as the key document other resources and publications – print and video – are available HERE

Pre-school provision and outcomes for children: Growing up in Scotland

Over 90% of children take up their pre-school place. Consistent and universal access to high quality pre-school provision benefits children in terms of their vocabulary ability and social and behavioural development. Download the PDF HERE

Nature Kindergartens: making a start

Between 2006 and 2008 nature kindergartens were developed in schools in Fife where children go out into woodland, forest or foreshore on a regular basis. This workshop is facilitated by Chris Miles, who was instrumental in developing this initiative. More HERE

Childcare and children’s intellectual outcomes

This Scottish Government research paper shows that high quality nursery education helps improve performance across primary and secondary school. Download the PDF HERE

Early Years Matters

The latest edition from Education Scotland includes more about progress of the Early Years Collaborative as well as news on practice from across Scotland. More HERE

Tales of bedtime stories

Staff share their different approaches to encouraging bedtime reading. More HERE

Workforce review to support early learning and childcare across Scotland

Leading children’s expert Professor Iram Siraj will lead a review of the country’s early years workforce as part of plans to transform early learning and childcare across Scotland. More HERE

Supporting Community Planning Partnerships in maximising income for pregnant women and families with children under the age of 5

One in 5 children in Scotland lives in relative poverty. There is potential that the welfare reforms being introduced by the UK government impact further on child poverty levels across the country. This resource addresses what can be done. More HERE

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Toolkit

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is the leading known preventable cause of permanent learning disability worldwide and is caused by maternal use of alcohol during pregnancy. This Toolkit contains information and tools to help raise awareness of the disorder. More HERE

Too young to fail

A Save the Children report evidences that while progress has been made over the past decade in improving the achievement of the poorest children seven-year-old children from poor families are still consistently more likely to fall behind in critical skills such as reading. More HERE

Just like a Child

A new Zero Tolerance resource for early years professionals tackles gender stereotyping in the early years and supports professionals and parents to raise children free from outdated or restrictive ideas of what is suitable for boys and girls. Download the pdf HERE

National Play Strategy

Scotland's first national play strategy recognises that as well as being fun, play is integral to a child's development. More HERE

Family stressors and children’s outcomes

The research identifies which family stress factors and parental behaviours are associated with worse outcomes for children at age 7 and which factors help children to succeed. Download PDF HERE

Conception to age 2 - the age of opportunity

This Wave Trust report addresses the causes of disadvantage at the earliest and most effective point in life and makes specific recommendations for appropriate identification and support for vulnerable families, with a focus on the antenatal and postnatal periods of care. More HERE

Maternal and Early Years web based resource

The site is for all early years workers in Scotland. There are regular Evidence Updates and a range of topics covered throughout the early years, from pregnancy to 8 years old. More HERE

Early Intervention reports

These PDF reports by MP Graham Allen back up policy and practice developments here in Scotland that see an increased focus on Early Intervention.

Every Day's a Learning Day

The resource consists of two books produced by Education Scotland for parents and carers of children aged between birth and 3 years, and 3 to 6 years. The aim is to help parents support their child’s development in the crucial areas of health and wellbeing, literacy and numeracy. More HERE

Early Year practitioners and additional support for learning

This Enquire information leaflet help education practitioners in the early years sector carry out their duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. More HERE

Dads2be Resource

A resource for professionals providing antenatal education and support to fathers. Download the pdf HERE

Fetal alcohol harm and health in pregnancy

Children in Scotland has launched a series of briefings relevant to early years. The first focuses on fetal alcohol harm which is estimated to affect more than 10,000 young people in Scotland. The second on the importance of pre-pregnancy (and early pregnancy) health.